Background

According to the National Center for Policy Analysis[3], “He has held various positions in professional and public policy organizations, including serving as a member of the Environment and Natural Resources Task Force in the Texas Comptroller's e-Texas commission, board of directors of the Dallas Woods and Water Conservation Club, and adviser for the American Legislative Exchange Council's Natural Resources Task Force.” [2]

Stance on Climate Change

“Proponents of policies to control human-induced global warming cite science as the basis for their claims and proposals. There is only one problem – as much as they claim otherwise, there is no scientific consensus for their theories.” [3]

“In other words, we do not know if the earth will get warmer or cooler in the future, and if temperatures do change, by how much or when, or if public policies can affect future temperature change.” [4]

“The current warming trend began as Earth came out of the little
ice age—an important fact that is all too often overlooked in the global warming debate.” [5]

Key Quotes

“there is no predicted human health effect from increased CO2 emissions at any foreseeable level… . nothing the EPA could do would reduce the speculative effects of global warming on sea levels, human health, or weather patterns — since EPA regulations can't affect these things, it ought not to regulate emissions as if it could.” [6]

Burnett commented[4] on the Gulf Oil Spill, claiming that “Environmentalists hyped the spill in an attempt to push the Senate to pass the largest energy tax in history.” His policy center also issued a press release describing[5] the situation on the Gulf Coast as “more hype than reality.” [7], [8]

“You don't go see Joseph Goebbels' films to see the truth about Nazi Germany. You don't want to go see Al Gore's film to see the truth about global warming.”

Key Deeds

May 12, 2015

H. Sterling Burnett is a signatory to an open letter to Pope Francis on climate change[8]. The letter invites the Pope to reconsider his views on climate change before his upcoming encyclical letter on the environment, which is widely expected to call for measures to prevent climate change in the interests of the world's poor.

The open letter was coordinated and signed by Calvin Beisner[9] of the Cornwall Alliance[10]. According to the letter, “Good climate policy must recognize human exceptionalism, the God-given call for human persons to 'have dominion' in the natural world (Genesis 1:28), and the need to protect the poor from harm, including actions that hinder their ascent out of poverty.” [16]

Another excerpt below:

”[…] the [climate] models are wrong. They therefore provide no rational basis to forecast dangerous human-induced global warming, and therefore no rational basis for efforts to reduce warming by restricting the use of fossil fuels or any other means.”

Judith Curry[11] comments on her blog Climate Etc. [12]that “Arguably the most effective 'pushback' comes from Cal Beisner of the Cornwall Alliance, who coordinated An Open Letter to Pope Francis on Climate Change.” [17]

December, 2014

H. Sterling Burnett is a contributor to the book Climate Change: The Facts [13]published by the Institute of Public Affairs[14] and featuring “22 essays on the science, politics and economics of the climate change debate.” The Institute of Public Affairs, while not revealing most of its funders, is known to have received funding from mining magnate Gina Rinehart and at least one major tobacco company. [18]

Essays and articles from a range of climate change skeptics, while listed authors include:

“Eighteen years of no warming. That means this year’s high school graduates were raised to believe in and fear something that stopped happening before they were born. We’ve had as many years of relatively steady temperatures as we had actual years of warming since the ice age panic of the 1970s. Growing Antarctic ice sheets, increased greening of the earth, more walruses and polar bears than at any time since the beginning of the 20th century, fewer hurricanes and tornadoes, only a modest sea level rise, longer life spans and better overall health … if these are the terrors of global warming, I’ll have more please.

“Every one of the climate models missed the lull. You’ve got to ask yourself, ‘Are you going to believe what the modelers tell you, or are you going to believe your “lying eyes,” which in this case is the actual measured temperature data?’ I’ll take hard data over faulty models any day.” [15]

December 4, 2010

Attended the Cancun Climate Change Summit. He was interviewed by the BBC shortly before attending the summit:

April 9, 2008

Testified (PDF[27]) before the Texas House Select Committee on Electric Generation & Environmental Effects on the topic of “Electrical Power for Texas: Economic and Environmental Considerations.” [10]

In his testimony, Burnett concludes, with regards to the concern that “the [coal-fired] plants will emit large quantities of carbon dioxide and contribute to global warming,” he has attached a “primer” that would explain why “this should not be an issue preventing the building of new coal fired power plants.”

“Statement for the Record: Texas House Select Committee on Electric Generation & Environmental Effects On ELECTRICPOWERFORTEXAS: ECONOMICANDENVIRONMENTALCONSIDERATIONS” (PDF[27]), April 9, 2008. Republished by the National Center for Policy Analysis.